Miscellaneous Ship Histories

Neritina

 

Neritina  was launched in 1943 and was used significantly in WW2 convoys. She was broken up in 1961 giving her a service life of 18 years.  There is further information about some of her voyages on the Recollections section of the Benjidog website HERE.

Participation in WW2

 

Neritina was built during WW2 and, according to Stan Mayes who was on her maiden voyage, she was defensively equipped as follows:

 

· Torpedo protection nets: Admiralty Net Defence (A.N.D)

· One 4" gun aft

· One anti-aircraft gun for'ard

· Four Oerlikons

· Four machine guns.

 

Neritina took part in 21 convoys according to information shown in the table below which is provided courtesy of Convoyweb - see  Ext. Ref. #5. Convoyweb also lists a number of independent voyages undertaken by this ship.

 

Note that the JW and RA series denote convoys to or from Russia.

 

There are accounts of some of the early convoys on this site HERE from Stan Mayes.

 

Image 1

Basic Data: Neritina

Type: Tanker

Registered owners, managers and operators:

                 Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd,                  London

Builders: Harland & Wolff

Yard: Govan

Country: UK

Yard number: 1174g

Registry: London

Official number: 169634

Signal letters: N/K

Call sign: GDFY 

Classification society: N/K

Gross tonnage: 8,228 tons

Net tonnage: 4,788 tons

Deadweight: 11,874 tons

Length: 483.3 Feet

Breadth: 59.5 Feet

Depth: N/K

Draught: 33.8 Feet

Engines: Oil 4 SC S.A - 8 cylinders, 25 9/16”                  bore, 55 1/8” stroke

Engine builders: Harland & Wolff

Works: Glasgow

Country: UK

Boilers: 2 double, 180lb/sq inch

Power: N/K

Propulsion: N/K

Speed: N/K

Cargo capacity: N/K

Crew: 58 on maiden voyage - this included a                  number of DEMS gunners

Images

 

1. All Images on this page were was provided by Stan Mayes

2. It is understood that images #2 to #6 were initially provided by Billy McGee.

Image 1 is from an old postcard of Neritina - the date is not known.

Neritina in Dublin

 

The following account including a reference to Neritina’s visit to Dublin in 1944 is given by Walter Kennedy in Ext. Ref. 27

.

WEDNESDAY  26 APRIL

 

Trade with Lisbon suspended.. A large grey tanker at Alexandra Quay. This was Neritina 8,222 tons built 1943 by Harland and Wolff Govan and owned by Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co London and she had brought 12,000 tons of oil products from Curacao. She had paravane gear at the bows and a large gun forward on the forecastle head as well as another near the stern. She had the same arrangement of goalpost masts, derricks and torpedo nets as previous ships, but carried her Red Ensign on a gaff atop the centre goalpost.

 

Oak and E.Hayward were at North Wall. Irish Plane, Monaleen and City of Antwerp as Saturday last.

 

FRIDAY 28 APRIL

 

Neritina had moved to Sir John Rogerson's Quay. Across the quay was a public house named "The Oil Well"and some of her sailors were in there singing and enjoying themselves. Folklore has it that the pub owners had adopted the name 'Oil Well' after winning compensation for alleged leakage into their premises from nearby oil pipes.

 

At close quarters the tankers armament appeared to include a 4" gun on the poop and a twelve pounder or 3" in the bows. Machine guns were around the bridge. Guns such as Hotchkiss, 20 mm Oerlikon and 40 mm Bofors were installed on ships like these for defence against aircraft attack.

 

SATURDAY  29 APRIL

 

The tugs Coliemore and Ben Eadar came to take Neritina out. While they connected towlines -Coliemore at bows and Ben Eadar astern, the crew took in the gangway and put a Jacob's ladder over the side for the Pilot. As the moorings were taken in and the ship moved away from the quay a large number of bystanders waved and all the crew on deck waved back.

 

Downriver Ben Eadar let go the stern line and Neritina's engines started up. Coliemore then let go the bow line and tugs and tanker exchanged salutes on their sirens as they parted company - Neritina to sea and the tugs to their berths in Alexandra Basin. Neritina was trimmed to 15 feet forward and 18 feet aft.

 

MONDAY 1 MAY

 

Trade with Lisbon had been suspended in the interests of security while preparations for the invasion of Normandy were taking place.

 

Churchill had issued a warning to all shipping that any ship seen within an exclusion zone would be sunk.

 

Service after WW2

 

No information is currently available other than that Neritina remained with the same company throughout her working life and was broken up at Hirao in Japan in 1961.

Image 2

Images 4 to 6 show the crew list for Neritina’s maiden voyage. This was the first ship for 8 of the crew.

 

Home addresses have been blurred for security purposes as the crew may have relatives at the same address. Stan Mayes name appears as #22. Anyone researching their family history that wants more information about one of those listed is invited to contact the website - see the Home Page for contact details.

Image 3

Image 4

Image 7 is from a scan of another undated postcard showing Neritina.

Image 7

Images 5 and 6 are from the records of Neritina from 1943-4.

· There is a reference to a seaman being hospitalised in Jan 1944.

· It refers to an exchange rate of $4 to £1. When the site author was a child we used to refer to five shillings as “a dollar” - which is in line with this rate.

· Many entries are accompanied by special stamps issued by the Consular Service

Image 5

Image 6

Notes on stamps on documents:

 

The use of stamps on documents is an interesting one which most of us will have seen but probably not taken a lot of notice of. The following summary account is from Ext Ref. 28:

 

Tax Stamp

 

In Britain, the use of pre-stamped papers for fiscal purposes dates from the Stamp Duty Act ( 5&6 William & Mary, C21) of 1694. The preinciple, subsequently applied to a wide range of tazation, provides that documents embodying a taxable transaction should be stamped before anything is written or printed on them. Blank papers and parchments were supplied ready-stamped by the Stamp Office or brought to the Stamp Office by lawyers, stationers, etc. for stamping. In the case of ready-stamped papers a charge was made (by way of taxation) for the stamp itself; there was  a separate additional charge to cover the cost of the paper. In the case of paper brought for stamping, the charge was for stamping only.

 

The word “stamp” has undergone a change since its 17th century application. Initially, the word referred to an applied impression, whether inked of “blind”; later, it referred to a separate piece of paper which, bearing an impressions, is affixed to a document, thus “stamping” it. Tax stamps, affixed or directly applied, are to be found on documents of great variety, including indentures, passports, leases, insurance policies, almanacs, licences, patents, bonds, letters of administration, playing cards, hair-powder tax labels, agreements, Newgate pardons, university degrees, mortgages, naturalization papers, and many others. Most such stamps bear the amount of the tax in words, expressed either as a sum or as a percentarge; many also indicate the subject of the tax: “Dog licence”, “Copyright of design”, “Consular Service”, etc. A number of British tax stamps remained in use at the close of the 20th Century. The embossed tax stamp on cheques, one of the most widely known in the 20th Century, was abolished in Britain in 1971.